Exercises — Week 8: Annotated Bibliography — Samples and Student Example
1 hands-on tasks. Do them in order; each one feeds the Canvas item it names.
10 min · on-screen-scaffold
1. Annotation Quality Rubric
- SUMMARY (40–50 words) — Restate the source's central argument in your own words. Does it avoid direct quotations? Does it start with the author's name and an attribution verb?
- EVALUATION (40–50 words) — What are the author's credentials? Is this peer-reviewed, trade, or popular press? How recent is it, and does currency matter for this topic? Is any bias or limitation visible?
- USE (20–30 words) — Which specific section or claim in your essay will this source support? Name the paragraph or argument, not just 'my essay.'
- FORMAT — Is the MLA Works Cited entry above the annotation? Is the annotation indented to align with line 2 of the entry? Is it 100–150 words in formal third-person present tense?
- REGISTER — Are all verbs present tense ('the author argues')? Is first person ('I think') avoided? Is vocabulary formal and precise?
Turn in / bring: On-screen reference — apply all five checks to each annotation before submitting the Annotated Bibliography on October 16.